3 new staff members at Colfax school district — Northrup, Endl and Simonson

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By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX — Three new staff members — April Northrup, Natasha Endl and Samantha Simonson — introduced themselves to the Colfax Board of Education at the February 13 meeting.

April Northrup is the new secretary at Colfax Elementary.

Sandy Sikora, who had been the Colfax Elementary secretary for 25 years, resigned at the end of December and took a job with the Eau Claire school district.

“April is doing a fantastic job,” said Trevor Hovde, principal at Colfax Elementary.

Northrup, who is from Eau Claire, is a graduate of UW-Stout and has a bachelor’s degree in business management.

“I could not ask for a better team,” Northrup said of her fellow staff members in the Colfax school district.

When the Colfax Elementary position became available, Northrup said she jumped at the chance to apply.

Anyone who has visited the Colfax Elementary school office knows that there are about 20 things going on all at once, with students and teachers coming and going, visitors arriving and telephone calls following one after another.

Northrup said she keeps her notebook with her, takes down notes frequently and is learning “about 200 new things every day.”

A resident of Elk Mound, Northrup says she loves the outdoors and especially enjoys fishing and going out running.

Endl

Natasha Endl has become part of the staff in the Colfax school district to help students fill in learning gaps, said Polly Rudi, director of pupil services.

Endl said she is originally from Menomonie and recently moved back to this area from Wisconsin Rapids.

She earned a degree from UW-Stout in hospitality and tourism and has worked in fine dining restaurants and at golf resorts all over the United States.

Along the way, Endl started substitute teaching.

“I fell in love with special education,” she said.

Four years ago, she went back to school at UW-Stevens Point and earned a master’s degree in special education.

“My passion is reading … and my goal is to see kids be successful,” Endl said.

Endl noted that she feels a little bit like she is “coming home” because when she was growing up, she was a student at Colfax Middle School for six months.

Simonson

Samantha Simonson is a behavioral interventionist.

She is a 2013 graduate of Colfax High School.

Simonson attended UW-Superior and earned a degree in exercise science with a minor in psychology and health.

She said she takes the “mind, body, soul route of learning.”

Simonson worked at a school in Duluth for nine years and has also worked as a “travel nanny.”

“I am excited to be working with middle schoolers on coping mechanisms to be greater humans,” she said, noting that her focus will be on social-emotional needs.

Sewer and water

Breaks in sewer pipes and water pipes have been affecting the Colfax school district, reported William C. Yingst Jr., district administrator.

There was erosion around a manhole, which is 11 feet deep, with water undermining the manhole, causing the manhole to drop six to 12 inches, and in the process of dropping, the sewer and water pipes were broken off, he said.

Because of cold temperatures the week before, a large truck that sucks out wet soil was freezing up, but with the warmer temperatures, it was working better, Yingst said.

The village was experiencing similar problems with a manhole at Birch Street and High Street west of the school district with the same vintage manholes, sinking of the manholes and the breaking off of pipes, he said.

The week of February 13 was expected to be “organized” chaos, Yingst said.

The Colfax Elementary parking lot would be closed off to parking and traffic, and the buses would load and unload all students at the high school parking lot. The equipment would be on site for the school district project, and then the equipment would go to fix the manhole at Birch and High Street, he said.

Other business

In other business, the Colfax Board of Education:

Learned that the school district had received $68,454 in Emergency Connectivity Funding. The money was used to purchase 172 Chromebooks. ECF is a reimbursement program, and every year, the school district buys new Chromebooks for fifth graders and seventh graders, Yingst said.

Learned that the dates for summer school are June 19 to June 30, 2023 at Colfax Elementary and that summer swimming dates will be June 5 to June 16 at the Elk Mound High School swimming pool.

Learned that the second Friday in January count of students was 731, six more than the count of students in September at 725.

Learned that the fee for students enrolled in the Colfax school district for the Safety and Respect Driving  School is $405 per student. The fee includes 30 hours of classroom instruction and six two-hour sessions of in-car instruction. An online version of the classroom portion also is available.

Accepted a donation of $500 from the Fraternal Order of Eagles Auxiliary 2213 located in Lake Halle for the school lunch program. Cathy Froseth, a graduate of Colfax High School, delivered the check.

Accepted a donation of $1,000 for students in need for the school lunch program. The money was raised through an on-line fund raiser, and the donors wish to remain anonymous.

Approved an amendment for the March 2023 school calendar. March 9 was originally scheduled as an early-release day, and March 10 was originally scheduled as a no-school day. Because of school being cancelled for five days all together so far this year due to inclement weather, March 9 and March 10 will be full days of school. Having school those days will help gain back instructional minutes, Yingst said, noting that winter was far from over and there could be more inclement weather days.